Free Republic

Several Oregon counties have referenda on the ballot to re-enforce protections for Second Amendment rights. The movement to re-enforce the Second Amendment protections started in 2013, in Wallowa County. Similar referenda have passed in four counties, Coos, Curry, Wallowa, and Wheeler. Wheeler and Coos county passed their ordinances in 2015, Curry county passed a similar ordinance in 2016.In 2018 ten counties have Second Amendment protection referenda on the ballot. These are: Baker County (measure 1-84), Columbia County (measure 5-270), Douglas county (measure 10-165), Jackson county (measure 15-181), Klamath County (measure 18-110), Lake County (measure 1-84), Lincoln County (measure 21-189),...

A coalition of local leaders backed by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce wants voters to approve a sales tax increase on the November ballot to pay for projects like the widening of Interstate 25 and the buildout of bike lanes. The group filed four ballot measures with the Secretary of State on Thursday that would raise between $500 million and $1 billion for transportation projects, according to the chamber, and allow that money to be used to pay for bonds, which would generate even more upfront cash. A booming population across the Front Range has created traffic snarls on...

In two weeks, voters decide which party will control the Senate and House, as well as choosing 36 governors and 6,049 state legislators.In some places voters will also be making transportation policy directly through ballot initiatives and referenda.A common factor in three states, Texas, Maryland and Wisconsin, is the attempt to ensure that some tax revenues are used only for transportation and aren’t diverted to other purposes.Texas voters will decide the fate of Proposition 1, a constitutional amendment that would earmark revenue from the state’s oil and gas severance tax to the state highway fund. (You can see a TV...

Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region have claimed a resounding victory in a "self-rule" referendum, saying 89% voted in favour. In Luhansk, another eastern region, the results - also expected to show a strong backing - will be released soon. BBC reporters at polling stations spoke of chaotic scenes, no voting booths in places and no electoral register. Ukraine called the vote a "criminal farce" organised by Russia. The EU and US also said the polls were illegal. Separatists claimed two people were killed by armed men loyal to Kiev in the city of Krasnoarmiisk. But otherwise the voting...

While behavior after losing a competition may be a great yardstick for the measurement of one’s character, equally important is one’s conduct after a victory. We have all experienced an ill-tempered reaction to a thumping – be it one who pitches the board game across the room, takes the proverbial ball and goes home or blames the drubbing on everything except their own incompetence (see: Maryland Republican Party). Yet the smug, gloating boo-yah type of winner is equally infuriating; sometimes more so, only because the vanquished already suffered the indignity of defeat, and now has to stomach the additional humiliation...

Gay marriage dominates the list of “social-issue” ballot measures going to voters this year, with amendments for and against same-sex unions up in four “blue” states: • In Minnesota, voters will be asked to amend their state constitution to say that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. Amendments like this have already passed in 31 states, including North Carolina in May. The Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment was put on the ballot by lawmakers in 2011, a few months after Republicans took over the state Legislature for the first time in 38 years. • In Maine, gay-marriage...

ANNAPOLIS — Organizers of a petition against Maryland’s same-sex marriage law have collected enough valid voter signatures to send the law to a November referendum, state election officials said Thursday. The state Board of Elections announced that local elections boards have verified 70,039 signatures on the petition to force a statewide vote on the law — exceeding the 55,736 signatures that were required to be turned in by June 30. The Maryland Marriage Alliance has led the petition effort against the law, which was passed in February by the General Assembly. The group says it submitted more than 122,000 signatures...

When Marylanders go to the polls in November, the most interesting races might not involve political candidates. The state’s voters will elect eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives and one U.S. senator, and will help choose a president, but an unprecedented slate of ballot initiatives is expected to set the state’s course on social issues, including same-sex marriage and illegal immigration, and potentially on gambling and congressional redistricting. This will be the first time in 20 years that a voter-petitioned referendum makes the state’s ballot, and as many as three could appear. All were initiated by Republicans who...

Glenn Beck has now supplanted Rush Limbaugh as the most influential broadcaster in America. He's the one the tea-party movement looks to. Beck wowed the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) crowd Feb 20 with his attack on progressivism, which he said must be "eradicated." "Progressivism is the cancer in America and it's eating our Constitution," Beck told the crowd. Now that Beck has given his marching orders, expect to hear all the Fox Puppets echoing him. The goal is to discredit "progressivism" as they did "liberalism." Beck fancies himself a historian; his patter is full of historical references that seem...

>Nebraska State Senator DiAnna Schimek's 20-year legislative career is nearly over. She feels victimized, no doubt, by the voter-enacted term limits that make this her final year in power. Still, Senator Schimek hopes to go out with her boots on, firing one final shotgun blast to maim or kill the initiative process she has long abhorred. You see, it was only through the voter initiative that Nebraskans passed term limits . . . three times. Yup. It took three petition drives and three votes of the people. Of course, term limits passed overwhelmingly each time. But a charmed third initiative...

The Texas Department of Transportation is pushing Congress to pass a federal law allowing the state to "buy back" parts of existing interstate highways and turn them into toll roads. The 24-page plan, outlined in a "Forward Momentum" report that escaped widespread attention when published in February, drew prompt objections Thursday from state lawmakers and activists fighting the spread of privately run toll roads. "I think it's a dreadful recommendation on the part of the transportation commissioners here in Texas," said Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas. "I feel confident that legislators in Austin would overwhelmingly...

House, Senate passage seem likely The careening vehicle that has been this legislative session's toll road overhaul appeared to pull into the garage about 4:35 p.m. Thursday. At that moment, Republican state Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville, after spending several moments huddling on the floor with Sen. Tommy Williams, sponsor of Senate Bill 792, affixed his signature to a compromise version of the bill, and the two shook hands. "We've got a deal now," Williams, R-The Woodlands, said about an hour later. "This is really going to move transportation issues forward, particularly in large metropolitan areas." The deal was among...

Ric Williamson, a former state legislator and longtime pal of Gov. Rick Perry, runs the monthly meetings of the Texas Transportation Commission like a traffic cop. Staff members give brisk status reports before Williamson dismisses them so the next bureaucrat can take the podium. If members of the public embark on a diatribe, Williamson will let them prattle on with an air of friendly indulgence. Then, rounding his shoulders and leaning forward—using body language no doubt perfected when he and Perry were freshmen state representatives harrying their elders—he’ll pleasantly announce that their time is up. As commission chairman, Williamson sits...

The California Assembly just passed a bill widely described in the press as “an end run around the Electoral College.” It now goes to the California Senate, which is likely to agree. There is only one slight problem with this proposal. It is thrice-times unconstitutional. The bill is an “interstate compact,” and has been introduced in the legislatures of most of the largest states, by do-gooders who are clueless about the Constitution and how it works. The theory is that if states possessing “a majority of the votes in the Electoral College” pass similar bills, those states would be committed...

Last week, the European Trade Commissioner had a grim warning for Britain: if we vote against the EU constitution in the forthcoming referendum, we could end up like... Switzerland. Graham Turner asked the Swiss exactly what this would mean Lack a day! Lack a day! News that the British might actually be allowed a say on the EU constitution has brought predictable auguries of doom and woe from the Euro-federalist brigade. Should Britain vote No, it would become no more than an impotent shadow on the margins of Europe - relegated to the "rearguard" of its nations, according to Pascal...

Decision may sway Swedish voters to reject single currency EURO FOCUS FOREIGN STAFF BRITAIN'S decision to hold off on the euro could help persuade at least one other European Union member - Sweden - to stay out. The country's nine million population is to vote on euro entry in a referendum in September, and polls show public opinion has slowly shifted in favour of keeping the krona. Euro proponents brushed off Britain's decision to stick with the pound yesterday. "Sweden is a small and open economy," said Jonas Frycklund, a spokesman for the Federation of Swedish Industries, a pro-euro trade...

A post-Election Day gripe: Usually a bunch of state constitution referendum questions and local or state bond issues show up on the ballot. There usually isn't a problem getting information on the bond issues; their constituency is usually easy to identify, so there's someone out there for them - if only the brokerage who gets to sell the bonds - and you can tell a lot from their agenda. And there may also be someone against them. So you can make an informed voting choice if you take the trouble. (And then they usually pass anyway because there seems to...